In memory of Professor Paolo Talamucci

Paolo Talamucci, Full Professor of Range Management at the Università degli Studi in Florence from 1975 to 2001, passed away on 27th November 2009, after a brief and unrelenting illness. Professor Talamucci spent many long years in the field of research, in both Mediterranean and Alpine regions. His research, profoundly rooted in the territory he was studying, holistic in its approach and rigorously scientific, was characterized by a strong interdisciplinary element, seeking always to take into account the totality of the components of the ecosystem. Professor Talamucci was one of the first scholars of the pastoral system to highlight the problems related to the abandonment of traditional animal husbandry in mountainous zones and to look for ways to counteract the undesirable transformation of the landscape and the consequent loss of biodiversity. His curriculum and his numerous scientific publications bear testimony not only to the prestigious research institutes, world-wide, with which he was associated, but also to the important international dimension of his research.